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The RailRiders didn't need their rehabbing third baseman to finish off Louisville, though.

Dan Johnson and Brent Lillibridge homered, and four pitchers scattered five hits in a convincing 8-0 win over Louisville in front of 8,256 fans on a steamy Thursday night at PNC Field.

Rodriguez went 1 for 4 and didn't have a chance to make a play at third during his seven innings. But he drilled a 1-2 fastball from Bats right-hander Chad Reineke over the right-center field wall for a two-run homer in the third inning to get the RailRiders started offensively.

"That one felt good," said Rodriguez, who barely missed a homer in his first at-bat, which ended with a flyout to the warning track in right field. "The first one felt good too. Any time you get the ball up in the air to center field or right, that's a good thing."

The reaction to Rodriguez, who is rehabbing from offseason hip surgery, was generally positive, with a smattering of boos from fans frustrated by his postseason struggles and alleged involvement with the Biogenesis scandal mixed in. Rodriguez said he doesn't know whether he will play third base or serve as the RailRiders' designated hitter tonight, when the series against the Bats continues.

Right-hander Michael Pineda got the start for the RailRiders coming out of the All-Star break, and he cruised until the fifth inning. He allowed only three hits, but his eight strikeouts, most of which came on a hard-breaking slider, drove his pitch count past 80. Manager Dave Miley called on right-hander Caleb Cotham to get Pineda out of a two-on, two-out jam in the fifth.

"I don't have control in that situation," Pineda said. "They tell me 80 pitches for right now is good. I'm feeling good, because they had a plan for my shoulder coming into this year after the surgery. Everything is feeling good right now. They want to keep it under control."

The RailRiders began to separate themselves from the Bats in the fourth inning, aided by great luck or hurt by misfortune, depending on the view.

Reineke started the inning by striking out J.R. Murphy, but his strike three pitch short-hopped catcher Nevin Ashley, bounced away and enabled Murphy to safely sprint to first. Back-to-back sharp singles by Melky Mesa and Adonis Garcia loaded the bases with nobody out.

But chances for a big inning went by the wayside. Ronnier Mustelier ripped a line drive, but it was right at third baseman Henry Rodriguez. Then Corey Patterson's liner went directly into first baseman Mike Hessman's glove.

With a chance to escape the inning unscathed though, Reineke couldn't complete the Houdini act. He plunked David Adams with a breaking ball on the upper arm, bringing Murphy home for a 3-0 lead.

"There were a lot of hard hits, and there's nothing you can do about it," Lillibridge said. "At least we squeaked the run in. You never want to be the guy that hits a line drive right at somebody. But it always works out in the end."

The rest of the way, the RailRiders went to their late first-half-of-the-season ways of putting runs on the board. Dan Johnson made it 4-0 with a one-out homer in the fifth, and the team put it away with two outs in the eighth.

Adams singled to left, and Walter Ibarra drilled one to right to bring Mustelier home for a 5-0 lead. Lilllibridge followed by hitting a two-run homer over the left-field wall against former Scranton/Wilkes-Barre right-hander Kevin Whelan to finish off the rout.

"Every run you score in this game is important," said Melky Mesa, who went 3 for 5. "You can't take anything for granted. The more runs you have, the easier it is to play the game."

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